BILLINGS- Is Montana a charitable state? One report says no, not really. According to Digital Third Coast, a Chicago based digital advertising firm and website, Montana ranked low for giving, per capita.
According to the site, the holiday season is often a time when people open their pocketbooks and hearts and give to those less fortunate in the community.
The site uses Google search trends to determine which states give back the most, although provides little additional context as to whether these search terms reflect actual donations to charity.
The study chose four popular search terms that indicate interest in donating time or money—“best charities to donate to,” “places to donate near me,” “volunteer opportunities near me,” and “what percentage of income should be donated to charity”—then calculated search volume for those terms, per capita, according to the study.
So, which states are the most charitable?
Massachusetts claimed the top spot, according to our analysis of Google search trends data.
Not far behind, Delaware, Michigan, New Hampshire, and Virginia rounded out the top five most charitable states in the country. Finishing out the top 10 were Illinois, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Florida, and Connecticut.
Looking at the top 10 list, it’s not surprising that most of the states who give back were from the East Coast.
Maryland, Vermont, Rhode Island, and Maine came in at No. 11, 13, 17 and 20, respectively.
Least charitable states?
States from the South and Southwest closed off the bottom of the list.
Coming in at No. 50 is Louisiana, with New Mexico, Oklahoma, Montana, and Arkansas making up the bottom five.
Some other states who could stand to donate some spare change: Nevada, which ranked at No. 45 and was preceded by Alabama, Mississippi, Nebraska, and Tennessee.
Wisconsin just missed the top 20, followed by California at 22, North Carolina at 23, Indiana at 24, New York at 25, Oregon at 26, Arizona at 27, Missouri at 28, Kansas at 29, Texas at 30, Alaska at 31, North Dakota at 32, South Carolina at 33, West Virginia at 34, Hawaii at 35, Iowa at 36, Idaho at 37, Kentucky at 38, Wyoming at 39 and finally, South Dakota at 40.
*Based on search volume data for the following keywords: best charities to donate to, best nonprofits to donate to, places to donate near me, volunteer opportunities near me, what percentage of my income should be donated to charity.
